Jean-Louis Gabriel Lafosse (15 March 1941 – 13 June 1981)[1] was a French racing driver.
In the European Touring Car Championship, he won the 1974 500km of Vallelunga, and the four-hour race at Monza the same year.
He had been provisionally entered in the 1974 Italian Grand Prix, scheduled to drive a Brabham for Scuderia Finotto alongside Carlo Facetti, but his entry was refused by the organisers.
[3][4] Lafosse was killed during the 1981 24 Hours of Le Mans, when his Rondeau M379C suffered a mechanical failure on the Mulsanne Straight, veered to the right, and struck the guard rail next to a marshals' post at unabated speed, before crossing the track and striking the opposite guard rail.
Photographs immediately prior to the accident showed damage to the front of Lafosse's car, with grass in the front air intake, suggesting that he had run off the track moments previously, possibly causing the damage that contributed to the fatal accident.